conformationem minime optandam esse.) He once saw a woman who was
considered a beauty, and she was so immensely developed behind, that
when seated on level ground she could not rise, and had to push herself
along until she came to a slope. Some of the women in various negro
tribes have the same peculiarity; and, according to Burton, the Somal
men are said to choose their wives by ranging them in a line, and by
picking her out who projects farthest a tergo. Nothing can be more
hateful to a negro than the opposite form. (60. The Anthropological
Review, November 1864, p. 237. For additional references, see Waitz,
Introduction to Anthropology, Eng. translat., 1863, vol. i. p. 105.)
With respect to colour, the negroes rallied Mungo Park on the whiteness
of his skin and the prominence of his nose, both of which they
considered as unsightly and unnatural conformations. He in return
praised the glossy jet of their skins and the lovely depression of
their noses; this they said was honeymouth, nevertheless they gave
him food. The African Moors, also, knitted their brows and seemed to
shudder at the whiteness of his skin. On the eastern coast, the negro
boys when they saw Burton, cried out, Look at the white man; does he
not look like a white ape? On the western coast, as Mr. Winwood Reade
informs me, the negroes admire a very black skin more than one of a
lighter tint. But their horror of whiteness may be attributed,
according to this same traveller, partly to the belief held by most
negroes that demons and spirits are white, and partly to their thinking
it a sign of ill-health.
The Banyai of the more southern part of the continent are negroes, but
a great many of them are of a light coffee-and-milk colour, and,
indeed, this colour is considered handsome throughout the whole
country ; so that here we have a different standard of taste. With the
Kaffirs, who differ much from negroes, the skin, except among the
tribes near Delagoa Bay, is not usually black, the prevailing colour
being a mixture of black and red, the most common shade being
chocolate. Dark complexions, as being most common, are naturally held
in the highest esteem. To be told that he is light-coloured, or like a
white man, would be deemed a very poor compliment by a Kaffir. I have
heard of one unfortunate man who was so very fair that no girl would
marry him. One of the titles of the Zulu king is, You who are black.
(61. Mungo Park s Travels in Africa, 4to. 1816, pp. 53, 131. Burton s
statement is quoted by Schaaffhausen, Archiv. fur Anthropologie,
603